Body blow for Dragons as Ryles' season in doubt

Jason Ryles's immediate playing career is under a cloud, with St George Illawarra officials yesterday admitting he may not play at all this season.

Ryles, who suffered nerve damage in his left shoulder during Origin III last July, had been hoping to return to the field by mid-April but a consultation with club doctor Martin Raftery on Tuesday did not provide positive news.

The Test prop will visit a neurosurgeon for further tests before seeing Raftery in a month, but Dragons coach Nathan Brown is bracing himself to be without Ryles for the upcoming season. "The news was not what we wanted to hear, so at the moment we're a touch worried," Brown said.

"He will have a much better indication in a month's time but at this stage it just hasn't responded like we'd hoped so there is a possibility that he won't be all right [to play this season]."

The setback to the 25-year-old international's recovery follows a previous recommendation by Raftery to Brown to "plan your year without Jason Ryles".

But after surgery revealed that the nerve damage was external, rather than internal, Raftery revised his diagnosis positively.

"Once you relieve that external compression you then hope that over the next three months - six weeks of recovery and six weeks of strength work - to see some response," Raftery said.

"At the moment we're only in the second week of that second phase so it's probably too early for me to tell . . . but if someone said to me now what are the chances of him playing in April, I would say it's probably not very high."

Countering the news on Ryles, St George Illawarra halfback Brett Firman was yesterday cleared to make his comeback from a shoulder reconstruction against the Bulldogs on February 21. Mark Gasnier (knee) is also expected to play in the same Gold Coast trial. Brown said that he would look to veteran Nathan Long and rookies Ashton Sims and Michael Henderson to share the front-row duties with Luke Bailey. Fullback Reece Simmonds will be given a chance to press for a wing spot in next week's Charity Shield match after being withdrawn from the Dragons premier league side to play play the Warriors in Hamilton tonight.

In other news, Manly captain Steve Menzies' agent, Wayne Beavis, confirmed negotiations to extend the former international's contract until the end of his career, but he said talks were yet to resume after Christmas.

Sharks fullback David Peachey is expected to return to training today after being given time off to deal with marital problems.

In another development, the NRL and the players' association appear to be on track to strike a historic collective bargaining agreement before the start of the premiership on March 12 after further negotiations yesterday.

A salary-cap increase is believed to be among the issues yet to be resolved, but extra money is likely to flow into the game in coming years with the free-to-air TV deal up for renewal in 2007.

The international rights for the 2008 World Cup to be staged in Australia are also available, with Britain's Rugby Football League yesterday confirming that it was not part of a new £53 million ($127.48m) five-year deal with Sky Sports for Super League and Test matches.